In Brief : 5 Athletes Plead Innocent in Rape

Five Kentucky State University students have pleaded innocent in Franklin Circuit Court to raping a female student Sept. 11.

All but one of the defendants were members of the school’s football team and have been suspended from the team indefinitely.

After hearing testimony from the woman involved, a Franklin County grand jury indicted each of the five last month on charges of rape, sodomy and unlawful imprisonment.

The five defendants, who are still attending Kentucky State, are Richard Renix, 18; James Price, 19; and Mekel Blackwell, 18; all of Memphis, Tenn.; Bobby Jones, 18, of Bamberg, S.C., and Myles Hendricks, 18, of Ft. Knox, Ky.

The alleged rape occurred in the men’s dormitory. The woman said she was taken to the dorm by a friend, then locked in a room and forced to have sex.

Franklin Circuit Court Judge William Graham heard the pleas of the five men Tuesday and released them all on their own recognizance pending a review of their records by a pretrial hearing officer.

Graham said he wants the trial held before the end of the semester and will schedule it soon.